Behind-the-scenes access

Read more of my comics

Never miss an update

Further connections

Hopefully this comic is updating automatically on Saturday, otherwise I’m going to be pissed cuz I totally hauled ass to finish it by Friday morning. Anyways, to save you debating over the weekend without me I’ll predict some q/a

Why does Kiz looks disproportionate in panel 2
Cuz I crazy suck at foreshortening torsos. Why does _(something else)_ look so weird?
I make mistakes. A lot, haha. Let me know and I’ll (possibly) fix it, as usual. Is that dude wearing a dress or something?
No, its traditional to wear a long smock thing on Sundays for his culture (Carissi). If today is Sunday, then yesterday was Saturday. Why were they working on Saturday?
Cuz in real life sometimes you have to work weekends D:They’re breaking the 4th wall in the last panel by staring directly into the camera!
Thats not a question!!!

Only 9 more pages left in the chapter!!! Please keep up with voting, we’ve slipped to #7 in the last week! Not that it matters a lot, but I guess I suffer from something of a competitive spirit >_>

Next page on Wednesday! Exclamation points!!!!!

139 Comments

Hmm, Either Kiz is not expecting much of a fight, or he’s not a good knife fighter; he’s holding that blade all wrong. I like to think it’s because he thinks he’s all that. Kiz da Shiz! XD Meh, he’s a bully, and all bullies think they’re better than they are.

He’s still going to get it handed to him in a basket with a bow on top, tho, knife or no knife. I have faith in this, yes I do. hehehehe

Wow yeah he looks like he’s trying to hold it like a tea cup XD pinky stuck out and everything.
No, I can see what’s up – the knife is drawn at the wrong angle, if it was sitting in Kiz’s palm right the blade would be sharp edge facing us, which is an entirely weird angle and I can’t blame Alex for drawing it this way instead – plus the link in with old ladies drinking tea amuses me XD

If you look at how Kiz grabs the knife in the first panel, that’s how a serious knife fighter would continue to hold the blade. The way Kiz is holding it in the following panels tells me that he doesn’t consider Pinter to be a threat (especially not with Blondie there to un-even the fight). One good kick or b-smack from Pinter will knock that blade right outta Kiz’s hand.

This is not a criticism of alex’s art at all; this is an appreciation of how simply elegant her depiction of Kiz’s jerk-faceness is. <3

lol damn you people can really kick my ass pretty good sometimes XD I was hoping nobody would notice the knife holding… The main problem is that the way he’s holding it in panel 2 makes no sense given the position of his hand in panel 1 (maybe he tossed it the other direction when nobody was looking… like when you’re making pancakes). I had to quickly google what the holding it should look like but I couldn’t find many good pics so I kind of winged it. Sorry his pinky looks weird, I had to crop the lines on that panel but its supposed to look more like he’s holding it with his palm vs having his fingers wrapped tightly around it. Anyways yeah I suck XD lol

Sigh… I didn’t mean to create a big deal about the eye-lines and the fourth wall. Like I responded, I believe in absolute ownership direction and decision. So don’t poke me too hard on that comment, OK? lol ;)

But since you said:

Why does _(something else)_ look so weird?
I make mistakes. A lot, haha. Let me know and I’ll (possibly) fix it, as usual.

I would like to say again in an entirely different context that in the first panel here, the eye-line of Pinter seems really odd. He’s in a physically violent direct confrontation with Kiz in that panel… but he’s looking at something else entirely. The eye-line for Pinter is somewhere really weird, and again, I’m distracted.

Only a few other people said these eye-lines distract them about your panels, but I think it could be a big issue that can plague any artist down the road, so I’m trying to be thoughtful in letting you know. All it takes is a quick change of where the pupils are located within the whites of the eyes and you are done. If you want to change more, like the angle of the body, hey, you are the artist.

You really seem to appreciate constructive criticism, which is a great quality. It will get you far.

As for the haters out there, there’s not reason to be nasty towards me or anyone else. We all read and comment on this comic because we LOVE it. So don’t get nasty!

(p.s. – In all the other panels, the eye-lines match up perfectly! Beautiful! In the third panel those pupils within the eyes are dead on looking right at each other. Prime example.

And in the fourth panel, all three characters eye-lines match. They are all looking at the same thing. The pupils within the eyes are clearly looking at the same object/person, and their body language reflects it. Wonderful.

When the eye-lines don’t match or don’t make sense, it just looks like characters are looking at: what? And it makes the readers/viewers wonder: why? Not all of them all of them all the time. But enough of them to lose a rhythm while reading, to drop their pace because of a flow issue.

And the fourth wall thing – I honestly hadn’t noticed they were looking straight at the camera. Now when I look at it, it looks like they’re all staring at me… especially the blond dude. Stop it, guys! It’s creeping me out! D: I feel like I’ve just walked in on a mugging… Aaaaawkward!

Haah, I think your question prediction is right on…though looking through the comments it seems people are already finding other things to nitpick on. O__O

As it is, I love that first panel. You’ve really captured this great morning light. It’s wonderful to see you improve comic to comic- you’re really getting very good at this! I wonder, do you plan out colors/lighting beforehand, or just come up with them as you’re sitting down to color?

Mm, well I have a general color scheme in my head. But sometimes it takes me a while to get it right (if you look at the first few pages the jungle looks more blue than I think it should be…). And of course I have to keep some colors consistent. For this page I had to keep going back to reference page 10 or whatever page it was that is somewhat similar…

Aw man, EXCITING. Stuff I like about this page:
DANGER;
Kiz’s wacky “I’MNA CUT YOU BITCH” face in the second panel;
Pinter’s wacky “WAIT, CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THIS?” expression in the third panel;
how well-drawn that knife is;
Kiz looks better with a shirt;
so does Pinter;
the shades of brown on Pinter’s jacket are really nice;
Hey look, is that the first Carissi since we started? Sweet;
Kiz is freaking out to a murderous extent because he can’t get ladies, which is both just and hilarious; ETC.

This is most definitely my favorite page yet. Keep up the good work, see you when you get back. (PS I agree with everyone, one of those jars of moonshine needs to be broken over Kiz’s thick skull)

I hate Kiz. And that’s good since I don’t get a “Well, we kinda need something like a villain here, so that guy does bad stuff”-feeling, but more of a “OMG what an ASS D:”-feeling.
If that makes sense. What I’m trying to say is that he’s authentic. or something.

I think it’s a nice effect when all the eyes are in the reader’s direction. It creates the impression of being in the place of whatever they’re looking at, like looking through the eyes of who said ‘look at this!’ without revealing it yet. If someone says it’s like they’re looking right at you (yes, YOU) then they’re simply not living the story enough. :D

Oh lord. Not only do I love this comic (Extremely so, at that. I get extremely happy when it updates. It’s just so great! Eee~), I adore the people who read it! The comments are always so fun and give me a good laugh, haha. And it’s good to see I’m not the only one in love with Pinter. I have such a giant crush on him. orz

I don’t even know that I can point out anything bad about this comic(Just this one page, or the comic as a whole). I love it dearly.
A-and I think that’s Angora! Coming to save Pinter, yaaay!

Ps, my friend reads this as well. He pronounces Pinter as Pie-nter while I say it P-int-er, how exactly how it’s spelled. Which way IS is supposed to be? o:

I say it like you do, but now that I think about it, the way your friend says it is probably the correct one. “Gimme a pint (pie-nt)” usually means “Gimme a beer.” Since Pinter’s everybody’s favourite alcoholic…

Alex said sometime last week or so that it’s like printer without the r. Sooooo, you’re right!! haha

And to whoever above, I don’t think Pinter’s from the same group as blondie (Carissi), bc he has the brown nose. I think it might say in the wiki, but I’m too lazy to go check before finishing my reply.

Its supposed to be the sway your friend says, it rhymes with “printer!” Haha… he actually wasn’t an alcoholic when I first made his character, so the “pint” association is just a happy/ unhappy coincidence :)

I vote every time you post. Love it. Love the story. If people find artistic errors.. they’re being way too critical. The art is beautiful, the story line is great.. and I really hope Pinter doesn’t get the shit beat out of him.

Cripes! That Kiz, he’s bad news! But it’s hard to hate him, depraved as he is. His lust, and his willingness to rape, murder and cut work a little early to satisfy that lust, is a stark contrast to Angora’s innocence. It’s interesting!

And Pinter! He’s a pretty good guy, and his interactions with Kiz show it. He’s not a saint, but he’s very… human. That’s the impression I get.

Oh! This is my first time commenting — I just want to say, I really enjoy this comic! It’s my dream to write a webcomic one day, and The Meek is very inspiring! : )

Thats a great interpretation of the characters. I try to write my chars as being more than just good or bad, though the could be definitely classified as such. Thanks for commenting! (and good luck with your own comic!)

Ahaha, looking at the camera does not automatically equal breaking the fourth wall. Where do people come up with this stuff? Sal doesn’t seem to actually realize what the term “breaking the fourth wall” means. Eye lines can be discussed to death all day long, but just because a character looks into the camera doesn’t mean the fourth wall has been broken. And there’s no rule that says character can’t look into the camera; it happens all the time in TV and movies. Just pick a channel and start watching.

Anyway, as a first-year film student can no doubt tell you, eye lines don’t even look right when they’re totally dead-on correct in reality. That’s why we cheat eye lines in TV/film. Eye lines are troublesome all over the place. I’m a little amazed at how many people seem utterly obsessed and distracted by them in illustrative form, though. Really?? I wonder if watching TV/film is as problematic? Like, do people sit there watching Lord of the Rings and go, “ARGH I CANNOT STAND THESE EYE LINES! I should complain to Peter Jackson about it.” (Okay, I’m done counter-ranting.)

By the way, who is tall-blonde-and-probably-single? Does he have a name? A post code where I can track him? A preference in underwear style? 8D

And I’ve been meaning to tell you that since I started reading the comic I realized Angora and n’Barit not only both have green hair, they have the same green-brown eyes! That is so weird! (You probably noticed that when you drew n’Barit, but as I’ve not drawn Angora… I’m a bit late to the party.) Have we been subliminally tapped into each other’s subconciousnesses for more years than we’ve known one another?

Hahaha yeah I’m not too sure about the eyes fixation either. Unless its totally glaring I can usually forgive small errors. Theres this horrible depression commercial where the woman is staring at a little walking doll that as obviously CG’d in and she’s staring like… to its left XC I get annoyed at that, haha.

And yes, we are definitely mentally connected :3 Though I think n’Barit has more in common with Luca than Angora XD

You seem to consistently refer to mistakes in your pages that you’ve made. For example this week you referred to foreshortening trouble with Kiz, which by the way, I don’t see. If addressing these mistakes helps you improve you’re ability than by all means continue, however you shouldn’t worry about the reader catching them so much. All but the most glaring mistakes will usually go unnoticed by the reader.

Well to make a bio metaphor, you can only gain muscle mass by breaking the fibers of your existing muscle… Or you can strengthen a chain by breaking the weak links or whatever. It helps me to crit my stuff all the time, otherwise I might get complacent! Hopefully its not too annoying to you readers X3

Your foreshortening’s functional in the second panel. I think you just put the shirt wrinkle in a strange place, which makes it look trippy. It will probably be an easy fix. n_n
(By the way, I’ve been stalking this comic since it began- I just never commented because I’m a lurker ♥)

Also, this comic is amazing, and I watch this page more closely than I did the Fullmetal Alchemist page when I was way into that. x’D

Looooove the comic sooo much!!! And the characters are wonderful; perky naked without-bashfulness heroine, a kind flubby drunk with moobs, and the skinny pretty-boy meanieheads! Perfectness! Too many comics have heros with waaayyy too much sex appeal. The…realisticness (kinda? as far as characters go? Aside from the green hair?) of your characters is sooo refreshing.

So, I totally think it’s Andora doing some trick with the alcohol cans. Like she’s juggling them, or she’s balancing fifty of them on her body. I totally don’t think it’s her being nekkid. She doesn’t even realize that nekkidness is a bad thing, and she probably didn’t even know why those guys were really chasing her early on.
…or did she?
xD
I’m just assuming a whole bunch of stuff.
I’m just too much of a kid for her to use her body to distract somebody.
AMIRIGHT?!

Anywhozzle, this is good and now I have something to look forward to since school is out :D
(You’d think that they would have new episodes for a show during the summer, when people ACTUALLY HAVE TIME!! D=)

I just found my way here via the same path (QC and Wander) and I’ve got to say I’m pretty impressed with the quality so far. I’m liking the characters and I have to admit even the douchebags are good elements, but this Carissi business….

I’m finally back in the country and can read this again! Ah, Pinter….I’ve missed you!

I actually think the way Kiz holds the knife in panel two works really well in context. I feel like he’s one of those douchebags that’s going to toss it from one hand to the other repeatedly to show how awesome they are at holding a knife. The way he’s holding it in the last panel, however, strikes me as a bit odd.

Anyway, I’ve already placed my vote for the day and I’m looking forward to the next page. ^_^

Wow! just stumbled on the link from johnny wander, this stuff is amazing – I just read all the way from page 1 to get caught up, and I’m hooked :3
It kind of makes me think of some of studio ghibli’s stuff, like the whole eco-fairytale thing. Love it!

Found this comic thanks to…Johnny Wander? Methinks. Anyway, love it. LOVE the art, but of course you’ve heard that a hundred times before. Still, it’s pretty bitchin’.
I’m really intrigued by the story from an anthropological standpoint. A logging community of mostly men: gender issues, environmentalism, male-dominated society (heh, what’s new), every character searching for something…an answer, relief, comfort, whatever.
Really great.
I also don’t get what the issue was with the nudity in the beginning. Yeah, it’s a naked girl. Don’t we see naked girls in our pop culture every day? I know I’m being slightly hypocritical in bringing up the topic again 34 pages after it started, but oh well. Maybe I’m just not as surprised by nudity as some. And the rape issue? Um…doesn’t that happen every day? People who are offended (without having a personal traumatic reason) need to wake up and smell the reality. Welcome to human nature 101; please take your seats.
:D Kay! I’m done being pointed.
Anyway, magnificent comic; can’t wait to read more!

Okay – this is the webcomic I have been looking for .. since I started reading webcomics..(okay, I only started reading webcomics like two months ago).
ANyway, I just wanted to say, I started reading and I could’nt stop till the last page – must..have…more…!!
VOTED!!

jeez there is like 50 billion comments on this page! I just wanted to say that I am loving the line work on this page. The hands and arms especially. Oh and I TOTALLY noticed that saweeet detail you included on that bowie-esk knife. Were you looking at one? Because Ive noticed cartoonists rarely put that much REALISTIC detail into a knife.
btw, LOVE your comic, mate